When the 'Indra' of Telugu film industry is celebrating his birthday, could clouds afford to remain silent? It was down pouring in Hyderabad as the hoards of fans reached the 'Shilpa Kala Vedika' to celebrate the grand birthday of their matinee idol Chiranjeevi.

The guests who honored the occasion include Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan, Anjana Devi (mother of Chiranjeevi), Venkat Rao (father of Chiranjeevi), Allu Ramalingaiah, Allu Arvind, K Viswanath, Ravi Teja, Srikanth, Venkat, Allu Arjun, Nagababu, Mani Sharma, Lawrence, D Suresh Babu, VV Vinayak, KL Narayana, Aswini Dutt, Shyam Prasad Reddy, Edida Nageswara Rao, Dr. Samaram, Master Teja, Ali, Uttej, Venu Madhav, Gowtam Raju, Raja Ravindra, Siva Reddy and Anand Sai.

The program started at 8 pm and went on till 12:45 nonstop. Raju & troupe performed dances for all the medleys of hit songs in Chiranjeevi's career. Allu Rama Lingaiah danced to his favorite song 'Narayanamma - Nayudu bava'. Dr. Samaram praised the magnanimity of Chiranjeevi and the great efforts put by Chiru fans. Venu Madhav performed comedy skits over how dances and fights used to be in Telugu cinema before Chiranjeevi entered the industry and how they have transformed after the entrance of Chiranjeevi. Ali danced to the 'narazu kakura' song from 'Johnny' film. Siva Reddy performed mimicry.

The entire auditorium gave a standing ovation when Chiranjeevi entered the 'Shilpakala Vedika' at 11:30 pm. Chiranjeevi was wearing a tight white T shirt with round neck and a black jeans pant. He is looking very young and trim in that tight dress. Pawan Kalyan is looking cool with mustache and a black jeans shirt and pants.

Then Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan were invited on to the dais along with other guests for the audio release of Tagore. Chiranjeevi told that he owes a lot to the director K Viswanath garu because he got two Nandi awards through the films Subha Lekha and Swayam Krushi directed by K Viswanath. Chiranjeevi released the audio cassette and gave the first copy to K Viswanath.

Later on, the blood donors in CCT who donated blood 18 times were felicitated by Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. Chiranjeevi garlanded them and Pawan Kalyan presented them with a shield. Among the recipients was the actor Raja Ravindra who donated blood in CCT for 13 times. Later on the 10th class state 1st and 2nd rank winners and EAMCET (both engineering and medical) 1st and 2nd rank winners were awarded with gold medals.

Later on they have screened 3 song bits from Tagore.

1. Chinnaga Chinnaga (Hariharan, Chitra - Chandra Bose - Lawrence): This is a melodious song picturised on Chiranjeevi and Shriya in Polachi. Chiranjeevi donned white dress as Shriya wore a red flowing saree. K Raghavendra Rao kind taking is shown (like he does in his old films where the chunni of heroine's saree would go forever). This song has graceful slow steps. The catchword in this song is 'Vote'.

2. Vanoche Varadoche (Udit Narayan, Shriya Ghoshal - Bhuvana Chandra - Lawrence): This is a melodious song with mass beats and mass steps. It's a song pictured in sets of Annapurna studios on Chiranjeevi and Shriya. This song has got some cool steps. The one especially where Chiranjeevi lifts the collar of his covers his face while running straight towards camera is good.

3. Gappuchippu (Mano, Chitra - Suddala Ashok Teja - Raju Sundaram): This song is pictured on Chiranjeevi and Jyothika in an outdoor set erected in Ooty. This song has got folk background with Chiranjeevi wearing dhoti. It's a mass song.

Chiranjeevi's speech:
Chiranjeevi has cut his birthday cake at 12 midnight and fed to his mother and father. Speaking on this occasion Chiranjeevi said that his mother used to celebrate his birthday from 3 years old onwards. After entering the film industry, he used to spend time on his birthday with his family and producers. But from the last couple of years, his fans started celebrating his birthday.

Chiranjeevi referred to the old saying 'Tinaga Tinaga Vemu Tiyyagundu' and modified it as 'Tinaga tinaga teepi amruthamuganundu' by comparing the teepi with the love and affections the fans shower on him.

Chiranjeevi remembered Mother Teresa statue incident in Rajahmundry where the over affection by his fans prevented him from unveiling the statue of the Mother. He said that he is not disappointed about losing the opportunity of unveiling the statue as it gave him a chance to look at his dear fans very closely and enjoy the their unlimited affection.

Chiranjeevi said that he should be thankful to his mother Anjana Devi for giving him birth as well as 2 sisters and 2 brothers. He also said that he is more grateful to the 'Telugu Cine Kala maa Talli' for giving him crores of blood brothers in the form of fans. He also appreciated his fans for giving new definition to the word 'fan' with their constructive work and social service.

Chiranjeevi narrated a story that shows the greatness of any mother. When a selfish wife asked her husband to get his mother's heart as a gift to her, that irresponsible guy took mother's heart and started walking towards his ladylove's place. On the way, he falls down because his leg is fractured. Then the mother's heart asks her son if he is hurt. Such is the caring attitude of any mother. Chiranjeevi said that all the sons/daughters should be loyal to the parents and make them feel proud with their deeds.

Chiranjeevi narrated another incident that happened in his real life. A 15 year old pregnant lady was traveling along with his 20 year old husband in a horse cart from Mogaltur to Narsapuram. An RTC bus hit that horse cart and she has fallen down. The first thing she did was to verify if the baby inside her womb is hurt. That lady was Anjani Devi and that baby in her womb was Chiranjeevi. On this occasion, Chiranjeevi publicly expressed his love and respect towards his parents and requested his fans to emulate him.

Chiranjeevi said that a journalist asked him what he feels about his career spanning 25 years. Chiranjeevi opined that we should not live in past. We should forget past and look forward to see how one can survive in the field for the next 25 years.

Chiranjeevi said that the Tamil original of Tagore looks like a documentary though the theme and mood of the film is excellent. Hence VV Vinayak did the right kind of changes for the script and added comedy, songs and entertainment without losing the flavor of original.

Chiranjeevi also cautioned his fans not to expect full-length mass dialogues like 'mokke kada ani peekithe …' from Indra in Tagore film. Tagore film would have underplayed and sensible dialogues. He opined that with these dialogues, the Paruchuri brothers would start a new trend.

Chiranjeevi has been made himself available for fans for the past 4 years by going out of station whenever Chiranjeevi birthday was there. He said that though he likes to enjoy himself in the presence of fans, he wouldn't be available to his fans on his birthday every year.

Chiranjeevi appreciated the efforts put by his fans on curbing audio and video piracy for Indra film. Likewise, he solicited the similar response for the forthcoming Tagore as well. Chiranjeevi reiterated that his film Tagore is shaping up to match the expectations that the fans have after Indra's stupendous success.

MAATV has grabbed telecast rights for this function. Suma anchored the event.

Sidelights

1. Chiranjeevi fans were asking for Ram Charan Teja. Then Chiranjeevi replied saying that he is still a kid and need to go to bed early. He would remain awake in mid nights when he grows up like you (by referring to fans).

2. Chiranjeevi fans were giving slogans of 'Kaboye Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Zindabad'. He tried to ignore those slogans for sometime. But their pitch o f slogans went to maximum heights. Then Chiranjeevi tried to divert the topic by saying 'are you asking Venu Madhav to speak?'. The fans did not relent. Then Chiranjeevi had to gracefully say 'thank you for your wish'.

3. Pawan Kalyan enjoyed quite a few moments in the birthday function of Chiranjeevi. Pawan Kalyan clapped and smiled when Chiranjeevi said that he look forward to remain in film industry for the next 25 years instead of brooding over the achievement in the past 25 years. He also enjoyed the step in 'Vanoche' song where Chiranjeevi lifts the collar and covers his face while running straight towards camera and it was excellent.

Note: 70 more photos of Megastar's birthday function would be kept tomorrow